


The Life of Aria

by MysteryWriter36



Series: My Poems [12]
Category: Greek and Roman Mythology, Original Work
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Epic Poetry, F/F, Falling In Love, Free Verse, Gods and Goddesses, Greek Mythology - Freeform, LGBTQ Female Character of Color, LGBTQ Themes, Mentions of alcohol, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-13 15:48:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14115669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MysteryWriter36/pseuds/MysteryWriter36
Summary: Aria was no hero. Not yet, anyway. Athena is determined to change that, and prove to Aria that the gods exist.





	The Life of Aria

**Author's Note:**

> Had to write epic poetry for class, and this was the end result. I hope you like it!

_Some heroes were slayers of monsters,_  
_bearing the name Perseus or Theseus._  
_Some were slayers of men,_  
_bearing the name Odysseus or Achilles._  
_Some slayed their pride,_  
_some were slain by it._  
_Some broke the hearts of loved ones,_  
_and some were left broken beyond repair._

_Aria was a slayer of nothing._  
_She was a slayer of no one._  
_She did not fight,_  
_nor did she love._  
_But in the eyes of the people of Greece,_  
_her pride was great._  
_For Aria was the only of her kind in Athens:_  
_one who disbelieved the gods._

_Orphaned at birth,_  
_and raised by the streets of Athens,_  
_Aria held no faith in Zeus._  
_Aria sought no godly favor,_  
_burned no offerings,_  
_and never knelt in prayer._  
_Aria led a loney life of simplicity,_  
_unitl the day she did not._

_Athena could not stand it._  
_To be disrespected,_  
_to be disbelieved,_  
_to be renounced in her city,_  
_was unforgivable in the eyes of any god._  
_But Athena, in her wisdom,_  
_divised a plan of revenge upon the mortal._  
_Aria would soon know Athena to be real._

_Athena told her siblings of her plan,_  
_and stole away to her holy city,_  
_disguised in robes of white and purple._  
_With olive skin, raven hair,_  
_and eyes like storm clouds,_  
_Athena appeared as any other mortal._  
_And upon seeing her for the first time,_  
_Aria knew her to be the most beautiful person in the land._

_Athena put her plan into action,_  
_finding Aria and requesting her help._  
_Knowing herself to be no hero,_  
_Aria declined reluctantly._  
_But Athena insisted,_  
_and Aria could not find it in herself to refuse._  
_And so Athena led Aria on a journey,_  
_and Aria succeeded in every task._

_Every new victory encouraged Aria._  
_Every monster slain,_  
_every village saved,_  
_and every person helped,_  
_restored Aria's faith in herself._  
_But it conjured no faith in the gods._  
_For once, Athena found her wisdom blinded._  
_By the beauty of a mortal, no less._

_At last, Zeus discovered Athena's plan._  
_Displeased with his daughter's secrecy,_  
_he ordered her to return to Olympus._  
_But Athena, in her blindness,_  
_disobeyed her father in favor of the mortal._  
_Enraged by this, Zeus destroyed the village._  
_Along with it went Aria, whom Athena had grown to love._  
_Athena grieved until her tears doused the flames._

_Athena went to Dionysus and begged for his help._  
_Feeling pity for his sister, Dionysus agreed._  
_Knowing he needed the help of Hades,_  
_who would never directly defy Zeus,_  
_Dionysus traveled to the underworld._  
_He intoxicated the ruler of the underworld,_  
_and the judges of the souls,_  
_and threw all of Hades into chaos._

_In the middle of such wildness and confusion,_  
_Dionysus retrieved Aria,_  
_and stole her away to the world above._  
_Athena was forever thankful,_  
_but spoke nothing of it,_  
_as she was overcome with emotion_  
_upon seeing Aria once more._  
_But Dionysus knew._

_Athena looked after her lover,_  
_until Aria's dying day._  
_And when that day came,_  
_Athena knew no end to her tears,_  
_until Artemis came to comfort the weeping Athena,_  
_under the soft light of the newly-risen moon._  
_Artemis knew the pain of loss,_  
_and she grieved with her sister._

_"She called me her goddess."_  
_Athena said to her sister._  
_"Your plan was successful, then."_  
_was all Artemis replied._  
_"I loved her."_  
_"She loved you, too."_  
_Athena was distraught to have lost,_  
_but grateful to have loved._

_Athena knew not how much time had passed._  
_Years felt like days to gods._  
_But now days felt like years._  
_Athena wandered the land of Greece._  
_She answered prayers,_  
_but she saw no miracles._  
_She wondered idly if this was how it felt,_  
_when Demeter lost her daughter._

_Days upon days later,_  
_Athena found herself on Olympus._  
_She found no peace in fields,_  
_nor in her temples._  
_And her home seemed to only worsen her grief._  
_Her father arrived,_  
_as did her siblings,_  
_but she had never felt more alone._

_But suddenly there was light in her life again._  
_Upon looking up, she saw a beautiful woman._  
_Adorned in robes of gold and white,_  
_dark brown hair in a plait,_  
_eyes as green as when she was born,_  
_and a smile as bright as every day Athena had seen it,_  
_stood the new minor goddess;_  
_Aria, lover of Athena, goddess of faith._

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave kudos and comments if you enjoyed this! You can also find me on my tumblr @mysterywriter36


End file.
